Plinking with a .22 rifle is the way young Americans learn how to shoot. We have been doing that from Daniel Boone to Kris Kile and it will continue. I remember shortly after Desert Storm there was a shortage of military sharpshooters. The scores had dropped to embarrassing levels as the average American didn’t know how to shoot any more. Some of the Cup Cakes were afraid to fire a rifle.
I devised a plan at Ft Polk Louisiana to train Non-Commissioned Officers how to shoot again with the cost effective .22 rifle. Of course it was denied so we took the idea and Civilianized it as a fun shoot on an Army Base. It evolved into the Top Gun Challenge (The World Squirrel Rifle Championship). For 13 years we gave away thousands of dollars worth of prizes and those soldiers got the marksmanship training anyway.
The only thing that stopped it was the ammo shortage, however every Liberal that sat in an office with a Government job was against it and stacked Red tape every year. One year we moved the match to a Civilian Range and then they cried about it. Go figure.
One year the General bemoaned how an 8 year old girl defeated some of his soldiers, after that we had to separate the kids from the adults. The fact remained Top Gun made us all extreme shooters with nothing more than a light sporter 22 rifle. The match was made extremely difficult to say the least. You had to stand and bench rest with the same rifle which had to be a gun you would normally hunt small game with.
If you had 50 shooters, 75% of them would be wiped out by the Black Death Target. You had to shoot from 25 yards, a perfect .25 inch or better 5 shot group inside a .50 circle without cutting the edge of the target with any shot. 3 to 5 shooters per match could do it, some got mad and left in a huff. That was the Top Gun Challenge.
So when you see me trying some kind of shot that many would consider impossible it can be done if you just try. We wanted to bring back the Hawk Eye of the American Sharpshooter. Now that the Greatest Gun Salesman is out of office the plan is to bring back the Top Gun Challenge even better than before. There will be a Cowboy rifle division, and I think we will shoot Tooth Picks this time. What do you think….Pass it on
I wasn’t warmed up on the first one just a little smudge in the center I don’t know if the camera picked it up. I need more practice, that really is aim small miss small the target is smaller than the crosshairs. Henry rifle of course.